Kelela empties the clip on toxic relationships with ‘point blank’.
Kelela kicks off pride month and blesses our ears with her newest spacey breakcore single, ‘point blank’, off her upcoming album, new avatar.
The American alternative R&B star leads us in with spacey delayed keys and echoing chopped-up breakbeats, before effortlessly gliding over the soundscape with her layered, angelic voice.
While Kelela once again proves her sonic mastery of space, the track explores the false fantasy of ‘holding space’ in a relationship to the point that a partner builds their own emotional maturity.
Kelela aims to shut this myth down, “The more we pour into men, the more entitled they become. We are down bad.”
The new album, coming July 10, is about finding solace in confronting the harsh truths of the world, using music to help things make sense instead of being a distraction.
So far, this ethos has been echoed sonically, as she’s moved away from club-heavy sounds, instead embracing more electronic, grunge and shoegaze sounds.
Through this, Kelela hopes that her audience can channel perseverance and rediscover beauty and joy.
According to the single’s press release, ‘point blank’ is doing just that by confronting the “emotional weight of romantic misogynoir and the labour of loving someone who mistakes your care for endless resources.”
The crushing weight, exhaustion, and pressure of this dilemma is reinforced throughout the track’s chorus, where multiple Kelelas sing “By now, I hope you see, the guns are pointed at me | And the more I pour, the more you reap, got me working while you’re fast asleep | By now, I hope you see, that the bullet set me free | And the more I pour, the more you reap, and I’m too spent to weep”.
Along with the new single, she also dropped dates for the ‘new avatar LIVE’, which will take her new sound to North America, Europe, and the UK.
Fingers crossed that the tour will expand to Australia, where fans can dance uncontrollably while taking control of their own lives through her uplifting album.
